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Hawaiian Language Online

About Hawaiian diacritical marks

The Hawaiian language uses two diacritical markings. The okina is a glottal stop, similar to the sound between
the syllables of "oh-oh." In print, the correct mark for designating an okina
is the single open quote mark. The kahako is a macron, which lengthens and adds stress to
the marked vowel. For example 'pau,' depending on placement of okina and kahako,
can mean completed, smudge, moist or skirt.

The State of Hawaii and University of Hawaii strongly encourage
use of Hawaiian diacritical markings. (See UH Style Guide.) Technology, however, is still catching up.

Choose the level of Hawaiian font display

Depending on your browser, operating system and installed fonts,
you may be able to display Hawaiian diacritical marks. If not, they will generally
appear as boxes or question marks. In that case, you can choose either to use a foot mark (')
as an approximation of the okina or display text without diacritical marks.

Your setting selection will be maintained for this browser and this session only.

Click on the links above and watch the demo text below change. If you see
boxes instead of diacritical marks, you do not have the fonts installed and
should turn off the diacritical option for your session.

Hawaiian language demo

The University of Hawaii System consists of 10 campuses, 7 community
colleges and 3 university level campuses. The Manoa campus, on the island
of Oahu, is the flagship campus with more than 18,000 students enrolled.